Transport poverty and urban cycling: a case study Rotterdam. (Practice paper).

Abstract

Transport poverty is an inability to achieve adequate transportation to access key activities such as employment, education, and social interaction. This can be caused by an inability to afford transportation, a lack of available services or vehicles in which to travel, an inability to physically access adequate transportation, or the suffering from externalities generated by modern motorized transport systems. Trends toward hypermobility play a large role in expanding the influence of transport poverty, particularly in urban settings. As municipalities invest more in motorized infrastructures, those that cannot access car ownership or public transportation are marginalized, limiting the travel options available to them. The prioritization of cycling as a primary mode of transport in urban communities can help to reverse this trend and improve transportation options. Individuals with more access to transportation have better opportunities to find and keep a job, access educational opportunities, and participate in increased social interaction in their communities, on top of enjoying the environmental and health benefits cycling-dominated transport systems provide. This article discusses how cycling can address the many aspects of transport poverty by providing a more flexible, accessible, and inexpensive mode of transportation with fewer negative externalities than modern motorized transport systems. A case study conducted in Rotterdam, a city in the Netherlands, highlights the existing barriers to urban cycling and illuminates the importance of making cycling policies, measures, and initiatives inclusive and equitable, in order to make underserved groups benefit from these efforts as well.